Even though “The Spiderwick Chronicles” appears from its trailers to be another attempt to tap into the “Lord of the Rings” and Harry Potter audiences, it’s very much its own thing, a tidy, compact fantasy adventure that touches all the right bases from beginning to end. The dialogue isn’t quite as funny as was apparently intended, but the characters, real and fantastical, are lively and appealing. It even touches lightly on real world issues, and doesn’t offer typical Hollywood-happy-ending solutions to them. It’s truly a family film—adults are as likely to enjoy it as much as children, and for the same reasons.

The movie is based on a series of children’s books by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. Presumably Paramount hopes to launch a series of Spiderwick movies, but this film seems to include plot elements from several of the books—so where can they go from here?

After a brief opening scene set 80 years ago, we see naturalist Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) studying the world and the Unseen World, gathering all his knowledge into a scrapbook he labels “Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Unseen World Around You.” But something happens and he disappears, leaving behind only a young daughter, Lucinda. She claimed she could see fairies and the like, and was placed in a mental home.

Now, Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker), Spiderwick’s great-grand-niece, arrives at the decrepit, lonely old Spiderwick Mansion with her children, teenage Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and twins Jared and Simon (both played by reliable Freddie Highmore). Jared’s sullen and angry; he’s resentful about having to leave their comfortable home back in New York city and come all the way out to this rundown place that looks like it was designed by Charles Addams.

He’s outgoing, intense and tends to sudden rages. His brother Simon is quiet—“I don’t do conflict”—and much more nerdy than Jared. When he states something logically, Mallory mutters, “Thanks, Spock; you’re the pride of the Federation.” Highmore is completely convincing as the twins, helped by subtle, unobtrusive special effects—but the young actor makes most of the distinctions between the brothers through his acting skill.

Mallory likes both her brothers, but has her own interest—fencing. We rarely see her without a foil in her hand. She’s frequently at odds with Jared, who’s expecting his father to arrive any day now. We understand well before Jared does that this isn’t going to happen—unknown to the boy (but known to Mallory), their parents are going through a divorce. Helen has courageously moved to the only property she has any claim on, the Spiderwick mansion, and hopes to start her life afresh.

The kitchen is puzzling. There are dozens of plastic bear honey
dispensers, dozens of boxes of oatmeal, dozens of jars of tomato
sauce—is this stuff all Lucinda ate? And what are those strange
scratching sounds from inside the kitchen walls? And what about that
neat, unbroken ring of toadstools that surrounds the house?

Jared sullenly pokes holes in the wall with broom handle, and is
scolded by Mallory—who herself fractures the wall, revealing odd bits
of their own belongings that went missing almost as soon as they
arrived. And they’re in a dumb waiter. When his siblings leave, Jared
immediately climbs into the dumb waiter and hauls himself up into
darkness.

He finds himself in a dusty old room, Spiderwick’s laboratory—and finds
Spiderwick’s notebook, ignoring the note that reads “Jared Grace, leave
this place.” Weird things happen that night—Mallory’s hair is tied to
her bedframe—while Jared pores over the notebook. He learns that
brownies love honey. So the next day in the old lab, he coats crackers
with honey, and soon is talking to Thimbletack (Martin Short), a
rat-like little guy in lederhosen and a tendency to talk in rhyme. But
don’t get him angry, the notebook warns—when he gets mad, Thimbletack
hulks out: turns green, gets bigger, and very cranky. But he calms down
quickly; he has allowed Jared to see him, but if the boy will look
through the stone ring the brownie gives him, he can see the denizens
of the unseen world all around him.

He warns Jared about the book—Spiderwick’s research was so thorough
that he included enough information about the fairies, sylphs,
hobgoblins, regular goblins, griffins, etc. of the unseen world, that
should the book fall into the wrong hands—those of the ogre Mulgarath
in particular—the evil creature could take over not only the unseen
world, but the entire planet. He’s already in control of the evil
denizens of the unseen world.

Everything is now set up and the movie takes off. That ring of
mushrooms keeps the toad-like goblins that live in the nearby woods
away from the house, but Simon innocently crosses the ring—he can’t see
the goblins—and they carry him off. Jared has to save him. He quickly
meets Hogsqueal (Seth Rogen), a friendly hobgoblin—not to be confused
with a goblin—who’s helpful but cowardly, and tends to be distracted by
passing birds, which he likes to eat.

In the forest, Jared watches Simon confronted by what seems to be an
old man (Nick Nolte, for crying out loud), but who is really, Hogsqueal
explains, that ogre Mulgarath, who can change his shape. He killed all
of Hogsqueal’s family years before, and the little guy (who has four
nostrils) wants revenge. He’s just too chicken to get it.

No point in relating the plot further, although I should mention that
hobgoblin saliva, when spit into human’s eyes, gives them the power to
see the unseen world. Of course this happens several times. Eventually,
the three children team up to try to keep the goblins and Mulgarath
from getting their hands on the Spiderwick book. This involves battles,
a handsome griffin, a flight to a snowy waste, a meeting with
Spiderwick himself, and an encounter with his now-elderly daughter
Lucinda (Joan Plowright).

“The Spiderwick Chronicles” is a very busy movie with plenty of
characters and a noisy, exciting climax, but it also takes place in a
relatively small area (aside from that flight by griffin-back to lands
far away). These are just regular children, clever, inventive and brave
though they are, who have to fight these forces of weirdness. The
limited area gives the action a tight focus, filling the last half of
the film with energy and excitement.

The plentiful special effects—there are also flower-like fairies and
dandelion-fluff-like sylphs—were done by the Tippett Studio and ILM,
formidable forces in the field. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice this is
a Kennedy-Marshall production; though the names of Frank Marshall and
his wife Kathleen Kennedy aren’t visible in the credits, it’s very
reassuring to know they’re around. They’ve been involved with many of
the best fantasy and science fiction movies of the last 30 years.

Mark Waters was an unusual choice for director; mostly, he’s done
teen-oriented comedies like the remake of “Freaky Friday” and “Mean
Girls.” But he’s fine, here. His simple, straightforward style is just
what an eventful movie like this one requires. He keeps everything in
focused, and clearly works well with the actors, all of whom are very
good. British Highmore, the star of “Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory,” not only distinguishes between the brothers skillfully, but
manages a perfect American accent. So does Sarah Bolger, herself once
an exceptional child actor (as in “In America,” where she was the
lead).

The script by divers hands—Karey Kirkpatrick (“Chicken Run,” among many
others), David Berenbaum (“Elf,” most notably) and, unexpectedly, John
Sayles (director, fine writer for more than 20 years)—is crisp and
uncluttered. There’s no sibling rivalry grafted onto the story; it
doesn’t need it. These siblings are different from one another, they
have their own issues, but they are quick to stick up for each other.
The failing marriage of their mother is a back issue, though present
throughout, but the writers don’t resort to the usual sort of thing to
wrap up the story. The characters are well written, the adventures are
to the point and direct.

The tempo is well-paced; it slows down for explanations, speeds up for
action, and there’s a lot of it. The book is safe inside the circle of
toadstoos, so at the end, there’s a siege on the old house by hordes of
goblins and Mulgarath himself. Yes, we finally do learn what the tomato
sauce is for. When it’s finally put to vivid use, it’s in an amusingly
gruesome scene, the only one in the movie.

“The Spiderwick Chronicles” looks very good—the CGI effects are
perfectly integrated into the live-action scenes, the cinematography is
handsome (and low-key). This is being released both in regular theaters
and in IMAX outlets, and will probably look sensational in that giant
format. It’s great fun with engaging characters, an involving story and
an exciting climax. It doesn’t get as serious as the Harry Potter
movies, nor, of course, “The Lord of the Rings” adventures; it’s a
smaller-scale story, with a few human characters battling magical
forces on a small playing field. But it’s a charmer on its own merits.